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Alchemy
Alchemy is an arcane artform and science which acts as the meeting place of magicks, biology, and chemistry. The magicks involved in alchemy are notoriously complex, and require both a vast amount of energy, and a very high magickal-measurement to be facilitated. The ultimate goal of alchemy is eternal youth through either an elixir of immortality or a philosopher's stone, and it aims to achieve these goals through the mixing and transmuting of chemicals, materials, and plants. Essentially they hope that the right concoction will transform into either an elixir or philosopher's stone. There is a method to the madness, however, humorism, the belief in four biological liquids which must balanced to keep a human healthy. They believe that this principal of balance by four materials is universal, and they assign special meaning to the colors of these liquids: blachumor (venom and waste, also found in blood - i.e. black blood), redhumor (blood), bluehumor (phlegm), and witehumor (bile). Four is not the only number alchemy is obsessed with, as six, seven, eight, nine, twelve, and thirteen appear very often in the artform. Alchemy is also obsessed with various symbols and shapes, as well as certain names and faces. The most-prominent of these symbols is the Oporosi Mark. Alchemy is notable for requiring much more energy than other forms of magick, and for requiring more "exotic" forms of energy. Sacrificial magicks is almost a requirement for alchemy, and almost all aspects of it necessitate at least some blood, and more complex procedures will use up numerous souls as well as cosmological energies from the Æther. The creation of homunculi, for instance, will always involve the deaths of many people, and perfect homunculi require energies from lychgates. Elixirs and concoctions are created by first gathering up base materials such as lead, carbon, and phosphorous, and using magickal techniques and spells to transform them into more noble materials (lead into gold). These newly transmuted materials are believed to be worth even more, at least for alchemical purposes, than their run of the mill naturally occuring counterparts. This is key to understanding how alchemy works within Calthoss' Creation. Alchemy like all magicks is predicated on belief. Alchemists believe in humorism, and they believe that transmuted gold is more valuable for magicks than regular gold, and much more than lead. Because they believe so strongly, their magicks end up working. Because alchemists worked with so many chemicals, many of them had delusions of grandeur. Some believed in an ultimate goal beyond immortality - omnignosis. Omnignosis was the idea that there is an empty throne above all creation, and that below it there is an evil god who has afflicted reality with a foul nature. This "demiurge" has made a broken reality, one centered around biological and imperfect truths, one that can be improved. Essentially the goal of omnignosis is to cast down the great work of the gods, and replace them as godhead by learning everything. To this end they would turn to forbidden magicks such as skinstealing, and soulslavery. Because alchemy is so dangerous, it has been banned in many states throughout history, most-notably in the Parthaginian Republic, which banned and persecuted the Red Alchemists' Guild. Alchemy has had a long history in Parthage, and because of this and its use of many plants, it has significant crossover with assassins' guilds, and poisoners' guilds. Medically-focused forms of alchemy are taught in Western Parthalenn, and they have borrowed many concepts and ideas from the Healing Magicks of the Eastern Continent. Despite the fact that philosopher's stones are the ultimate goal of alchemy, and the art has achieved many important goals along the way to its ultimate goal, very little to no progress has ever been made in discovering how to create a philosopher's stone, and there is little to no interest in redstone, which is generally listed as just another base metal. Four Humors: Golemry: Main Article - Golemry A golem is an artificial being animated through magickal or psychokinetic transmutation, which in this context refers to using outside energy or one's own energy to animate a golem. This energy is transformed into the four humors of the soul, and along with an Oporosi Mark, is what gives life to golems. Notably, golems lack brains and hearts, meaning that their souls are incomplete (importantly, this is because artificial hearts, and artificial brains cannot be created without the presence of at least one non-artificial humor). Bestiolara, and homunculi (artificial beasts, and people respectively), near-final goals of golemry, and some of the final goals of alchemy, are advanced forms of golem. The difficulty in creating bestiolara, and homunculi comes from the use of blachumor, which is extremely volatile. Without blachumor, however, the souls of golems are but mere shadows of the souls of living beings. No homunculi has, by the time of Tale of Zul, ''been created with more than three of the four humors. and thus even the most advanced homunculus ever created, Zunughur Tristhdekes, lacked the emotional intelligence, and emotional depth of a real human (he was created without witehumor and lacked negative emotions such as anger, disgust, and hatred, and was wholly removed from the natural evils of humankind). Golems have been a mainstay in magickal combat for centuries. Powerful-enough wyzards and wytches can use golemry to form all sorts of fantastical things from just about anything. Golemry can be used to create living non-living things (e.g. temporarily giving life to dirt so that you can move it into forming a wall, and then ending its life once it's formed). The major disadvantage to golemry is that it requires absolutely massive amounts of energy; it is horribly taxing on its users. Even when using exclusively magickal transmutation to bring the golem to life, the user acts as the channel in between the energy and the golem, which slowly begins destroying the users' body. On larger scales of golemry, for instance when using golems larger than elephants, or over long periods of time, such as using golemry for over twenty minutes, real danger becomes present for the user. There is always the possibility of a seizure, or a stroke. Golemists have been known to die of exhaustion, or to outright faint whilst using their golemry powers. Bestiolara: ''Main Article - Bestiolara Bestiolara are golems created in the forms of artificial beasts, given life through the use of at least blachumor, and redhumor. Generally, bestiolara, along with homunculi, are never referred to as golems. In general, this is because golems are remotely controlled, while bestiolara, and homunculi are actually living beings, with their own wills and desires. Homunculi: Main Article - Homunculi Homunculi are golems created in the forms of artificial humans, given life through the use of at least blachumor, and redhumor. Like all golems, they are given life by the Oporosi Mark; unlike golems, however, erasing it does not kill them, and sacrificial magicks must be used in the creation of a homunculi's mark. Homunculi in myths are thought of as artificial humans, but it would be more accurate to say that they are artificial longmen. They are not too bright, tend to have monstrous strength (usually being made of raw materials), and tend to develop strange, multi-faceted, self-contradictory personalities, inheriting them from the sacrifices used to create them. Humans themselves are homunculi, born of mud and blood to be between longmen and fogmen, who themselves were made in the image of the apes of this and that Earth. Their Oporosi Marks are burnt onto the inside of their third eye, an invisible, malformed eye which can see the chains of creation for what they really are. For one to open their third eye, they must allow themselves access to the nine chakras of humankind's reality. They were not created with a third eye, and in fact some humans do not have them. Gradually, however, most humans came to have them, gaining access to the magicks of Calthoss' Creation. Their marks originally were faintly marked on the inside of their skull's skin. Transmutation: Main Article - Transmutation Transmutation is the act of changing one thing into something else, most often used, in the context of alchemy, to describe a substance being changed into another substance, such as lead into gold. All living beings are capable of transmuting at least some substances into energy, which they use to keep alive. Notably, animals on this Earth transmute food into energy. Transmutation requires nine chakras, which can be represented in many ways, but in the context of transmutation are usually represented by nine of the 108 Points of Failure: the base of the spine, the tip of the genitals, the navel, the heart, the throat, the mouth, the second mouth, the third eye, and the crown of the forehead. Transmutation also requires being born with an Oporosi Mark, which can usually be found on the third eye, but which all living beings are born with regardless of whether or not they actually have a third eye (that is to say, the ability to use magicks). Oporosi Marks: Main Article - Oporosi Mark An Oporosi Mark is a powerful symbol, and sigil used in alchemy, and magicks. It is one of the main components of a "full soul" (people's souls, and animal souls), and is used to transmute food into energy. Erasing an Oporosi Mark does not destroy a soul, nor does it remove one's ability to eat. Tallmen, notably, possess neither Oporosi Marks, nor third eyes. Human Oporosi Marks are burned onto the inside of their third eyelid, or in the case of an absent third eye (an inability to use magicks), on the inside of their skull's skin. The name Oporos comes from the Mohaskian term for an Oporosi Mark, δράκων οὐροβόρος, drakon ouroboros, meaning "dragon devouring its own tail." To the Mohaskians, the Oporosi Mark was a powerful magickal symbol, which invading Farwesterners, and Sefenlanders took for their own after Aye the Queen. The word drakon in Oporosi is also the ultimate etymology of the word dragon in Lobott, and was ultimately left out of the term for an Oporosi Mark, which came to often be a black two-headed self-devouring sphinx, ''not a dragon. Interestingly this is reflected in biology, as after the symbol changed, so too did its biological counterpart. Redstone/Philosopher's Stones: ''Main Article - Redstone Redstone is a nigh-indestructible, stone-like material made of philosopher's stones; alchemically-synthesized stones made of immortal human souls; humans cursed with immortality, and twisted into the shape of redstone by their extreme regenerative healing factor. Souls can already naturally harden, but lack any of redstone's various magickal properties, which include: being able to create more redstone, grant humans immortality, destroy (non-immortal) human souls, exist in several places at once, manipulate time, and a natural tendency to be forgotten about. Redstone is required to create more redstone, thus all redstone originates from an enormous underwater quarry in the heart of the Mattesian Great-Sea in a region known as Mattes' Shadow. This quarry simultaneously exists in several locations at once: at the bottom of the sea, above Mattes' Great-Hall, as the roof of Dai Lo's Library, deep beneath the tent-town of Zul, and within Tall-Eight. Its true origin is Zul, where millions of humans were used by the Shine to make the substance.Category:Cosmology Category:Magicks